PMC ESPO Starts Laying Siphon Across Amur River at One of Longest Oil Trunk Pipelines Underwater Crossings in Russia

PMC ESPO (a subsidiary of Transneft) has started laying a siphon of a standby leg at the existing underwater crossing of an oil trunk pipeline (OTP) of phase II of the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean pipeline system (ESPO-2) across the Amur River in Khabarovsk Territory.

The siphon (the underwater part of the pipe) is being laid in a prepared trench. Dredging began in the spring of 2018. At the crossing, the depth of the trench reaches 14 metres.

The siphon’s length is 2,786.4 metres. It consists of 14 stalks: the length of 13 stalks averages 200.25 metres, and one stalk is 183.14 metres long. To prevent damage during dragging, the siphon is isolated with wood strips, and the stalks are placed on a pre-assembly (welding) track before pulling. Pipes with an increased wall thickness are used to construct the underwater crossing. Each weld passes multiple quality checks.

The total length of the standby leg of the Amur River’s underwater crossing is 34.5 km. This is the width of the floodplain at the site of the crossing, which is submerged in water during the overflow of the river. In addition to the main riverbed, there are 8 more small water barriers. Siphons have already been laid across five of them on the right bank, construction of the rest of the crossings will start in the winter period of 2018 – 2019.

Constructing of the standby leg will improve the ESPO-2 pipeline system’s operational reliability.